“I would like to congratulate Sabine Lautenschlager on her new post. The appointment of a well-qualified and highly experienced woman to the ECB board is well overdue.

“It is shameful that there has been no woman involved at the highest level of the ECB since 2011, and that Ms Lautenschläger will only be the third woman to serve on the ECB’s six-person board since the institution was founded in 1998. It is not the case that there is a shortage of suitable women, as has quite clearly been demonstrated.

“We have a long way to go still to achieve gender equality in the banking sector, but the Parliament’s insistence on more female candidates is clearly bearing results.

“We must continue to keep up the pressure on all EU institutions to lead by example when it comes to promoting equal opportunities for men and women.”